Methods and apparatus to locate unknown media devices

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method to automatically determine the location of unknown media devices is disclosed. An example apparatus includes a media device detector to detect an unknown media device identified in monitoring data collected by an audience measurement device at a location determined to have an “on” status, a media transmission detector to detect a media transmission associated with a device address and an association storer to store an association of the device address, the unknown media device and the location. A probability determiner determines a probability that the unknown media device is located at the location.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to monitoring network activity, and,more particularly, to methods and apparatus to locate unknown mediadevices.

BACKGROUND

Media providers and/or metering entities such as, for example,advertising companies, broadcast networks, etc. are often interested inthe viewing, listening, and/or media behavior/interests of audiencemembers and/or the public in general. To collect thesebehavior/interests, an audience measurement company may enlist panelists(e.g., persons agreeing to be monitored) to cooperate in an audiencemeasurement study for a period of time. The media usage habits of thesepanelists as well as demographic data about the panelists is collectedand used to statistically determine the size and demographics of aviewing audience

In recent years, more consumer devices have been provided with Internetconnectivity and the ability to retrieve media from the Internet. Assuch, media exposure has shifted away from conventional methods ofpresentation, such as broadcast television, towards presentation viaconsumer devices accessing the Internet to retrieve media for display.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example environment of use of an unknownmedia device locator.

FIG. 2 shows an example probability table.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example network communications monitorto implement the network communications monitor of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows components of an unknown media device locator according toone example.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method for automatically locating unknownmedia devices.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for determining the probability thatan unknown media device is located at a site.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example processor platform capable ofexecuting the instructions of FIGS. 5 and 6 to implement the apparatusof FIG. 4.

The figures are not to scale. Wherever possible, the same referencenumbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying writtendescription to refer to the same or like parts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As used herein, the term “media” includes any type of content, such astelevision programming, radio programming, news, advertisements, movies,web sites, etc. Example methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacturedisclosed herein identify media devices and/or types of media devicesfor media measurement. Such media devices may include, for example,Internet-enabled televisions, personal computers, Internet-enabledmobile handsets (e.g., a smartphone), video game consoles (e.g., Xbox®,Playstation® 3), tablet computers (e.g., an iPad®), digital mediaplayers (e.g., a Roku® media player, a Slingbox®, etc.), etc. In someexamples, identifications of media devices used in consumer locations(e.g., homes, offices, etc.) are aggregated to determine ownershipand/or usage statistics of available media devices, relative rankings ofusage and/or ownership of media devices, types of uses of media devices(e.g., whether a device is used for browsing the Internet, streamingmedia from the Internet, etc.), and/or other types of media deviceinformation.

In some disclosed examples, a media device includes a network interfaceto transmit a request for media to be presented by the media device. Insuch examples, the media device requests media from a media provider viaa network (e.g., the Internet). In some examples, the request forcontent is a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request, a SessionInitiation Protocol (SIP) message, a domain name service (DNS) query, afile transfer protocol (FTP) request, and/or any other type of requestfor content.

Some networks utilize Internet Protocol (IP) for communication. The IPaddress scheme utilizes IP addresses assigned to media devices. Forexample, a media device might be assigned an IP version 4 (IPv4) addressof 192.168.0.2. Any other past, present, and or future addressing schememay additionally or alternatively be used such as, for example, IPversion 6 (IPv6). In some examples, IP addresses are dynamicallyassigned using DHCP. Both public and private IP addresses may beassigned using DHCP. In some examples, the IP address assignment isreferred to as a lease. IP address leases are generally time-dependentin that they are only valid for a particular period of time (e.g., oneday, one week, one month, etc.) After the expiration of the lease, themedia device requests a new IP address from a DHCP server (e.g., arouter, a server, etc.). Accordingly, more than one IP address might beassociated with a media device over an extended period of time. Forexample, at a first time, the media device might be identified by an IPaddress of 192.168.0.2, while at a second time, the media device mightbe identified by an IP address of 192.168.0.3. Further, a second mediadevice may be assigned the first IP address at the second time.Accordingly, identifying which device is associated with networkrequests occurring on a network based on the IP address alone isdifficult.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) typically provide a single publicInternet protocol (IP) address for each media exposure measurementlocation (e.g., a media presentation location, a panelist household, aninternet café, an office, etc.) receiving Internet services. In someexamples, multiple devices (e.g., media devices) are communicativelycoupled by a local area network (LAN) at a media exposure measurementlocation. In some examples, the LAN includes a router and/or gatewaythat accesses another network (e.g., the Internet) using a public IPaddress associated with the media exposure measurement location.

Within the LAN, individual media devices are given private IP addressesby, for example, a dynamic host control protocol (DHCP.) When a mediadevice within the LAN transmits a request to a resource outside of theLAN (e.g., on the Internet) the router and/or gateway translates theoriginating (private) IP address of the device making the query to thepublic address of the router and/or gateway before relaying the requestoutside of the LAN (e.g., to the Internet). Thus, when the resourceoutside of the LAN receives the request, the resource is able totransmit a return message (e.g., a response) to the LAN via the publicIP address in the LAN. On the return path, the router and/or gateway inthe LAN translates the destination IP (identifying the public IPaddress) address of the response to the private IP address of therequesting device so that the return message may be delivered to themedia device that made the original request.

Network interfaces of media devices are provided with a media accesscontrol (MAC) address. The MAC address is a serial number of the networkinterface of the media device. MAC addresses are used when issuing IPaddresses to identify the media device to which the IP address isassigned. Unlike an IP address, the MAC address does not change overtime. The MAC address of a media device is provided by the hardwaremanufacturer of the media device at the time of manufacture. In someexamples, the MAC address may be changed at a later time (e.g., aftermanufacturing the device). In examples disclosed herein, the MAC addressis a forty-eight bit identifier, and is commonly represented as a twelvecharacter hexadecimal identifier. However, any other representation mayadditionally or alternatively be used.

In some examples, the MAC address includes a twenty-four bitorganizationally unique identifier (OUI). An OUI is used to identify themanufacturer and/or model of the media device. In some examples, thefirst twelve bits of the OUI identify a manufacturer, while the secondtwelve bits of the OUI identify a model of the device. Accordingly, amanufacturer and/or model of a device may be identified based on theOUI. The OUI, however, does not distinguish between multiple mediadevices of the same manufacturer and model. For example, a first iPadmay have the same OUI as a second iPad. However, the devices will beuniquely identified by the remainder of the MAC address (e.g., theportion of the MAC address following the OUI).

When transmitting network communications (e.g., transmission controlprotocol (TCP) communications, user datagram protocol (UDP)communications, etc.), the MAC address of the media device is notincluded in the communication. Rather, the IP address is used toidentify the media device. As disclosed above, the IP address may changeover time and, therefore, may not accurately identify the media device.To translate an IP address into a MAC address, media devices include anaddress resolution protocol (ARP) table. However, any other type oftable may additionally or alternatively be used such as, for example aneighbor discovery protocol (NDP) (e.g., for use with IP version 6(IPv6)). The ARP table enables translation from an IP address to a MACaddress. The ARP table is maintained by media devices (e.g., a routerand/or a gateway). Accordingly, a media device can be associated withnetwork communications even though the IP address associated with themedia device may change.

In some examples, network resources (e.g., servers providing media tothe media devices) are identified by domain names. Domain names arehuman readable identifiers that identify a network resource. While an IPaddress of a network resource might change over time, the domain nametypically remains the same. Domain names typically remain the samebecause they are purchased by the content provider as a way for users toeasily identify the service provided by the service provider. As the IPaddress of the content provider changes (e.g., because the contentprovider is now hosting their service via a different server, etc.), thedomain name is updated to be associated with the most recent IP address.

In some examples, media devices that are capable of individually beingmonitored via an on-device meter (e.g., a software meter installed atthe media device) are used within a media exposure measurement location.The monitored media device may be, for example, a personal computer, asmart phone, a tablet, etc. In some examples, the on-device metercollects monitoring information regarding the network communicationsand/or activities of the media device. In some examples, the on-devicemeter collects information in addition to the network communications ofthe monitored media device such as, for example, indicia of user input,indicia of information presented by the monitored network device, etc.

However, not all media devices are capable of being monitored by anon-device meter. For example some media devices do not allow forinstallation of third-party software (e.g., an on-device meter).Further, because there are many types of media devices available,maintaining on-device meter software packages for every type of mediadevice is difficult. Because installation of a monitoring system on alltypes of network devices is difficult, if not impossible, some networkdevices may go unmonitored.

In examples disclosed herein, a device identifier is used to identifythe media device as being associated with a panelist and/or a householdfor monitoring purposes. For example, a media device may be associatedwith a panelist and/or a household, and may receive a unique identifier(e.g., “Suzie's iPAD”, “Smith Family iPad 01”, etc.) to facilitate suchassociation. In some examples, the MAC address is associated with thedevice identifier. In examples disclosed herein, the assignment of theunique identifier (e.g., a device identifier) and the association with aMAC address of the device is made by an installer (e.g., arepresentative of a media monitoring entity) and/or by a user of themedia device. However, any other party may assign and/or associate thedevice identifier with the media device and/or the MAC address of themedia device.

In examples disclosed herein, a network communications monitor is usedto capture network communications of media devices on the network (e.g.,a home network). The network communications monitor is installed at themedia exposure measurement location and identifies networkcommunications to and/or from media devices within the media exposuremeasurement location (e.g., the communications of devices sharing apublic IP address via, for example, a gateway). Thus, the networkcommunications monitor monitors all network devices within the mediaexposure measurement location. The network communications monitorcreates a log and/or a record of the network communications, identifiesa device associated with the network communications (e.g., a device thatoriginated and/or is to receive the network communication), andtransmits the log and/or the record to the network activity measurementsystem. In examples disclosed herein, the network communications monitordetermines a device identifier of the identified device based on a MACaddress of the device involved in the network communications. While theMAC address is not contained in the network communications itself, itcan be derived by using, for example, an address resolution protocol(ARP) lookup based on an IP address identified in the networkcommunication. In some examples, the log of network communicationscreated by the network communications monitor may be transmitted byphysically mailing the log (e.g., a log stored on a memory device suchas, for example, a flash memory, a compact disc, a DVD, etc.).

Some example methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture disclosedherein are located at a media exposure measurement location having oneor more media devices. Some of these example methods, apparatus, andarticles of manufacture are interposed between the media devices and awide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, that includes one or morecontent providers that provide media in response to request(s) from themedia devices. Some example methods, apparatus, and articles ofmanufacture disclosed herein intercept messages to and/or from the WAN(e.g., media requests from media devices on the same LAN as theintercepting method, apparatus, or article of manufacture). Whenintercepting messages to and/or from the WAN, in some examples, thenetwork communications monitor identifies an internal (e.g., private) IPaddress associated with the intercepted message (e.g., a destination IPaddress or a source IP address). In some examples, the internal IPaddress is used when determining the MAC address of the media deviceassociated with the intercepted message.

Some example methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture disclosedherein inspect the network communications to determine if the networkcommunications should be recorded. Not all network requests are ofinterest to the monitoring entity. For example, when the networkcommunications monitor identifies hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)requests, the network communications are transmitted to a networkactivity measurement system and/or stored for transmission to thenetwork activity measurement system at a later time. In contrast, whenthe network communications monitor identifies a message not associatedwith media presentation (e.g., a border gateway protocol (BGP) message),the network communications monitor may ignore such a message. In someother examples, the message may be ignored when a device identifierand/or a MAC address cannot be determined. Some such example methods,apparatus, and articles of manufacture additionally or alternativelydetermine ownership and/or usage statistics based on messages from theWAN to the media devices on the LAN. Some example methods, apparatus,and articles of manufacture disclosed herein determine the type(s) ofmedia device based on the network communications (e.g., via HTTP queriescontained in the communications, via a MAC address associated with themedia device, via a device identifier associated with the media device,etc.) but, unlike media providers that track usage statistics, do notreturn media to the media device(s) in response to the networkcommunications.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example operating environment 100 of anunknown media device locator 101. The example, unknown media devicelocator 101 locates unknown media devices (e.g., devices that are atunknown locations of an exposure measurement location) that are detectedin media exposure measurement locations that are a part of operatingenvironments such as the example operating environment 100. The exampleoperating environment 100 of FIG. 1 includes an example network activitymeasurement system 110, a television audience measurement (TAM) device149, an example network communications monitor 180 to monitorcommunications across a network 125, and the example unknown mediadevice locator 101. The example operating environment 100 of FIG. 1illustrates an example media exposure measurement location 140 incommunication with an example media provider 130 via the example network125. The example media exposure measurement location 140 of FIG. 1includes an example network gateway 145, an example modem 143, andexample network devices 150. In the illustrated example, network devices150 include a first media device 151, a second media device 152, a thirdmedia device 153, a fourth media device 154, and a fifth media device155.

The network activity measurement system 110 of the illustrated examplecollects and processes network communications from the media devices 150to generate media device information. The network activity measurementsystem 110 of FIG. 1 analyzes the network communications across multiplemeasurement locations such as the example measurement location 140 toidentify, for example, which media devices are the most owned, themost-frequently used, the least-frequently owned, the least-frequentlyused, the most/least-frequently used for particular type(s) and/orgenre(s) of media, and/or any other media statistics or aggregateinformation that may be determined from the data. The media deviceinformation may also be correlated or processed with factors such asgeodemographic data (e.g., a geographic location of the media exposuremeasurement location, age(s) of the panelist(s) associated with themedia exposure measurement location, an income level of a panelist,etc.) Media device information may be useful to manufacturers and/oradvertisers to determine which features should be improved, determinewhich features are popular among users, identify geodemographic trendswith respect to media devices, identify market opportunities, and/orotherwise evaluate their own and/or their competitors' products.

The network 125 of the illustrated example of FIG. 1 is a wide areanetwork (WAN) such as the Internet. However, in some examples, localnetworks may additionally or alternatively be used. For example,multiple networks may be utilized to couple the components of theexample environment 100 to identify media devices.

In the illustrated example, the media devices 150 of FIG. 1 are devicesthat retrieve media from the media provider 130 for presentation at themedia exposure measurement location 140. In some examples, the mediadevices 150 are capable of directly presenting media (e.g., via adisplay) while, in some other examples, the media devices 150 presentthe media on separate media presentation equipment (e.g., speakers, adisplay, etc.). The first media device 151 of the illustrated example isan Internet enabled television, and thus, is capable of directlypresenting media (e.g., via an integrated display and speakers). Thesecond media device 152 of the illustrated example is a first gamingconsole (e.g., Xbox®, Playstation® 3, etc.) and requires additionalmedia presentation equipment (e.g., a television) to present media. Thethird media device 153 and the fourth media device 154 are tabletdevices. In the illustrated example, the third media device 153 and thefourth media device 154 are the same type of device from the samemanufacturer (e.g., both the third media device 153 and the fourth mediadevice 154 are Apple iPads). Accordingly, the OUI (e.g., a manufacturerand/or device specific portion of the MAC address) of the third mediadevice 153 and the fourth media device 154 are the same. The fifth mediadevice 155 of the illustrated example is a second gaming console (e.g.,Xbox®, Playstation® 3, etc.) and requires additional media presentationequipment (e.g., a television) to present media. Although the fifthmedia device 155 and the second media device 152 are both gamingconsoles, they are not made by the same manufacturer and, accordingly,do not share the same OUI. While, in the illustrated example, anInternet enabled television, gaming consoles, and tablet devices areshown, any other type(s) and/or number(s) of media device(s) mayadditionally or alternatively be used. For example, Internet-enabledmobile handsets (e.g., a smartphone), tablet computers (e.g., an iPad®,a Google Nexus, etc.) digital media players (e.g., a Roku® media player,a Slingbox®, etc.) etc. may additionally or alternatively be used.Further, while in the illustrated example five media devices are shown,any number of media devices may be used. In the illustrated example,media devices 150 may be wired devices (e.g., connected to the networkcommunications monitor 180 via wired connection such as, for example, anEthernet connection) the media devices 150 may additionally oralternatively be wireless devices (e.g., connected to the networkcommunications monitor 180 via a wireless connection such as, forexample, a WiFi connection, a Bluetooth connection, etc.).

The media provider 130 of the illustrated example of FIG. 1 is a serverproviding media (e.g., web pages, videos, images, etc.). The mediaprovider 130 may be implemented by any provider(s) of media such as adigital broadcast provider (e.g., a cable television service, afiber-optic television service, etc.) and/or an on-demand digitalcontent provider (e.g., Internet streaming video and/or audio servicessuch as Nefflix®, YouTube®, Hulu®, Pandora®, Last.fm®,) and/or any otherprovider of streaming media services. In some other examples, the mediaprovider 130 is a host for a web site(s). Additionally or alternatively,the media provider 130 may not be on the Internet. For example, themedia provider may be on a private and/or semi-private network (e.g., aLAN.)

The media exposure measurement location 140 of the illustrated exampleof FIG. 1 is a panelist household. However, the media exposuremeasurement location 140 may be any other location, such as, for examplean internet café, an office, an airport, a library, a non-panelisthousehold, etc. While in the illustrated example a single media exposuremeasurement location 140 is shown, any number and/or type(s) of mediaexposure measurement locations may be used.

The modem 143 of the illustrated example of FIG. 1 is a modem thatenables network communications of the media exposure measurementlocation 140 to reach the network 125. In some examples, the modem 143is a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, while in some other examplesthe modem 143 is a cable modem. In some examples, the modem 143 is amedia converter that converts one communications medium (e.g.,electrical communications, optical communications, wirelesscommunications, etc.) into another type of communications medium. In theillustrated example, the modem 143 is separate from the network gateway145. However, in some examples, the modem 143 may be a part of (e.g.,integral to) the network gateway 145.

The example network gateway 145 of the illustrated example of FIG. 1 isa router that enables the media devices 150 to communicate with thenetwork 125 (e.g., the Internet.) In some examples, the example networkgateway 145 includes gateway functionality such as modem capabilities.In some other examples, the example network gateway 145 is implementedin two or more devices (e.g., a router, a modem, a switch, a firewall,etc.).

In some examples, the network gateway 145 hosts a LAN for the mediaexposure measurement location 140. In the illustrated example, the LANis a wireless local area network (WLAN) that communicates wirelesslywith the media devices 150, and allows the media devices 150 to transmitand receive data via the Internet.

The network communications monitor 180 of the illustrated example ofFIG. 1 is a network device interposed between the LAN hosted by theexample network gateway 145 and the network 125. Additionally oralternatively, the network communications monitor 180 may be a device onthe LAN. The network communications monitor 180 of the illustratedexample identifies network communications from the media devices 150within the media exposure measurement location 140. The networkcommunications monitor 180 creates a record (e.g., a log) identifyingwhich of the media device(s) 150 were involved in which of the networkcommunications and transmits the record to the network activitymeasurement system 110. In some examples, the network communicationsmonitor 180 determines which device was involved in the networkcommunications by inspecting the network communications passing throughthe network communications monitor 180 for indicia that may identify themedia device and/or may facilitate identification of the media device(e.g., an IP address that may be used to lookup a MAC address via an ARPtable).

In some examples, the example network gateway 145 permits customfirmware and/or software to be loaded and/or executed. In some suchexamples, the network gateway 145 may be provided with firmware and/orsoftware that, in addition to standard routing and/or modem behavior,monitors messages and/or data packets directed from the media devices150 to the network 125 and/or directed from the network 125 to the mediadevices 150. Additionally or alternatively, such monitoringfunctionality may be part of a separate device such as, for example, thenetwork communications monitor 180. TAM 149 determines when media device151 is on. A TAM is used to determine the number of people that are inan audience.

Referring to FIG. 1, when an unknown media device operates in mediaexposure measurement location 140, the TAM 149, detects the unknownmedia device. In one example, as a part of the detection of the unknownmedia device, the TAM 149 makes a record of the detection of the unknownmedia device in monitoring data that it collects. In addition, networkcommunications monitor 180 (e.g., DMX) identifies media transmissionsthat are associated with the unknown media device's MAC address. In oneexample, the data that the TAM 149 and the network communicationsmonitor 180 generates is accessed by the unknown media device locator101 and used to determine the location of the unknown media device. As apart of locating the unknown media device, the unknown media devicelocator 101 associates the address, the unknown media device and thelocation. Thereafter, unknown media device locator 101 determines, byexecuting one or more instructions via a processor, a probability thatthe unknown media device is located at the location.

Unknown media device locator 101 locates devices using internetconnectivity to the viewing site. The locating of media devices isperformed in an automated and iterative manner. Unknown media devicelocator 101 determines what device is connected by monitoring television(TV) (or other media presentation device) on/off times and MAC addressesof devices that have internet activity during the television “on”period. An iterative approach determines, through association, whichdevice is connected to each TV site over time.

Conventional installation approaches can be cumbersome and addressingthe problem of automating such is desirable. For example, conventionalinstallation is manual and requires interaction with every device in thehome that can connect to the internet. Unknown media device locator 101obviates manual installation by determining the probability that adevice has connected to, and is associated with, a particular site(e.g., such as a room that is associated with a panelist in an exposurelocation 140). Over time, as more data is collected, the probability isimproved. In this manner, unknown media device locator 101, in anautomated and iterative manner, obviates the involvement of installationpersonnel to manually install each site according to an installationtable (such as a DMX-S installation table).

In one example, an installer can perform an initial outfitting of a homewith the example TAM 149 and then place the example networkcommunications monitor 180 in the appropriate location (e.g., as definedin an installation manual). The network communications monitor 180collects MAC addresses and all other associated streaming informationand forwards it to the example network activity measurement system 110.At the network activity measurement system 110, the unknown media devicedetector 101 identifies the site(s) that is “on” and associates the MACaddress to the site(s) that is “on” to build a probability table of theassociations. The strongest association indicates the probable site(e.g., location) of the unknown device. As such, the location of anunknown media device is identified without the installer manuallyidentifying the site of each media device in the home. Furthermore, anew location could be learned if a media device is relocated. Each timea TV is “on” and the MAC address is detected the table is updated.

FIG. 2 shows an example probability table 200 that tracks the totalnumber of times that MAC addresses are detected at different sites whena television associated with the site is detected as being “on.” Table200 includes columns for site 201, media access control (MAC) address203, MAC address 205, MAC address 207, MAC address 209 and total 211.Referring to FIG. 2, table 200 shows that when a television associatedwith site 1 was detected “on” MAC addresses were detected 12 times, whena television associated with site 2 was detected “on” MAC addresses weredetected 8 times, and when a television associated with site 3 wasdetected “on” MAC addresses were detected 1 time. In addition, table 200shows the number of times each MAC address was detected transmittingwhen a television associated with a respective site was detected “on.”In one example, the stored associations of the MAC addresses and the“on” sites of table 200 enable the determination of a probability thatan unknown media device is located at a particular place among thesites.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the networkcommunications monitor 180 of FIG. 1. The example network communicationsmonitor 180 of FIG. 3 includes an example network communicator 305, anexample communications processor 310, an example communications datastorer 315 and an example communications data store 320.

The network communicator 305 of the illustrated example of FIG. 3 is anEthernet interface. In the illustrated example, the network communicator310 receives network communications (e.g., HTTP requests, etc.) from thenetwork gateway 145, the media devices 150, and/or the modem 143. Thenetwork communicator 305 transmits the network communications to theexample network 125, and receives and/or transmits networkcommunications in the reverse path (e.g., towards the LAN). While in theillustrated example, the network communicator 305 is an Ethernetinterface, any other type of interface may additionally or alternativelybe used. For example, the network communicator 305 might include one ormore of a Bluetooth interface, a WiFi interface, a digital subscriberline (DSL) interface, a T1 interface, etc. While in the illustratedexample a single network communicator 305 is shown, any number and/ortype(s) of network communicators may additionally or alternatively beused. For example, two network communicators (e.g., Ethernet interfaces)may be used. In such an example, a first network communicator mayreceive and/or transmit network communications to and/or from thenetwork gateway 145 while a second network communicator may receiveand/or transmit network communications to and/or from the network 125.

The communications processor 310 of the illustrated example of FIG. 3inspects network communications received by the network communicator305. The example communications processor 310 of FIG. 3 is implementedby a processor executing instructions, but it could alternatively beimplemented by an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC),Digital Signal Processor (DSP), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), orother circuitry. In the illustrated example, the communicationsprocessor 310 filters network communications received by the networkcommunicator 305 to identify network communications of the media devices150. Further, the communications processor 310 identifies the mediadevice 150 involved in the network communications. In examples disclosedherein, the communications processor 310 identifies the media device 150by determining a device identifier of the media device 150 and/or a MACaddress of the media device 150.

The communications data storer 315 of the illustrated example of FIG. 3stores network communications identified by the communications processor310 in the network communications data store 320. The example datastorer 315 of the illustrated example is implemented by a processorexecuting instructions, but it could alternatively be implemented by anASIC, DSP, FPGA, or other circuitry. The communications processor 310and the data storer 315 may be implemented by the same physicalprocessor. In the illustrated example, network communications identifiedby the communications processor 310 are stored in association with themedia device(s) 150 identified as receiving and/or transmitting anetwork communications.

The network communications data store 320 of the illustrated example ofFIG. 3 may be any device for storing data such as, for example, flashmemory, magnetic media, optical media, etc. Furthermore, the data storedin the network communications data store 320 may be in any data formatsuch as, for example, binary data, comma delimited data, tab delimiteddata, structured query language (SQL) structures, etc. While, in theillustrated example, the network communications data store 320 isillustrated as a single database, the network communications data store320 may be implemented by any number and/or type(s) of databases.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the unknownmedia device locator 101 of FIG. 1. In one embodiment, components ofunknown media device locator 101 implement an algorithm for locatingunknown media devices. The example, unknown media device locator 101includes and example media device detector 401, an example mediatransmission detector 403, an example association storer 405, an exampleprobability determiner 407 and an example exposure site contactindicator 409.

Referring to FIG. 4, the media device detector 401 detects an unknownmedia device. In one example, the media device detector 401 detects theunknown media device by determining if the unknown media device isidentified in monitoring data collected by an audience measurementdevice at a location (e.g., audience measurement device 149 in FIG. 1).

Media transmission detector 403 detects, by executing an instruction viaa processor, a media transmission associated with a device address. Inone example, media transmission detector 403 detects the mediatransmission associated with the device address by determining if themedia transmission is detected by a network communications monitor(e.g., network communications monitor 180 in FIG. 1). In one example,the network communications monitor identifies the media device type.

Association storer 405 stores an association of the unknown media deviceaddress (e.g., MAC address) with the unknown media device and thelocation. In one example, storer 405 stores the association of theunknown media device address with the unknown media device and locationin memory of a network activity measurement system (e.g., networkactivity measurement system 110 in FIG. 1). In other examples, storer405 stores the association of the unknown media device address with theunknown media device and location in a location other than that of thenetwork activity measurement system. In one example, storer 405 storesthe association of the unknown media device address with the unknownmedia device and location to have a tabular organization. In oneexample, storer 405 tracks each detected instance of this associationsuch that a count of the detected instances is stored. In one example,the association of the unknown media device address with the unknownmedia device and location may be used to build a probability table. Inone example, the probability table correlates respective media accesscontrol (MAC) addresses with a plurality of sites.

Probability determiner 407 determines, by executing an instruction via aprocessor, a probability that the unknown media device is located at thelocation. In one example, probability determiner 407 uses theinformation stored by association storer 405. For example, probabilitydeterminer 407 uses data such as the data that is stored in the abovedescribed probability table that associates MAC addresses with sitesthat are on. In one example, probability determiner 407 uses acorrelation of the respective media access control (MAC) addresses withsites that are on. Probability determiner 407, using this information,determines a probability that the unknown media device is located at thelocation based on the strength of a determined probability. Thisinformation is used to define an installation table. See installationtable described herein in connection with FIG. 1.

Exposure site contact indicator 409 provides an indication that anexposure site should be contacted when a condition based on thedetermined probability is satisfied. In one example, the condition is aprobability threshold. In another example, the condition is an elapse ofa period of time after a probability threshold has been reached.

It should be appreciated that the aforementioned components of censuslevel impressions and unknown media device locator 101 can beimplemented in hardware or software or in a combination of both. In oneembodiment, components and operations of total number of impressions andunknown media device locator 101 can be encompassed by components andoperations of one or more computer components. In another embodiment,components and operations of unknown media device locator 101 can beseparate from the aforementioned one or more computer components but canoperate cooperatively with components and operations thereof.

While an example manner of implementing the unknown media device locatorof FIG. 1 is illustrated in FIG. 4, one or more of the elements,processes and/or devices illustrated in FIG. 4 may be combined, divided,re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way.Further, the example media device detector 401, the example mediatransmission detector 403, the example association storer 405, theexample probability determiner 407, and the example exposure sitecontact indicator 409 more generally, the example unknown media devicelocator 101 of FIG. 4 may be implemented by hardware, software, firmwareand/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, forexample, any of the example the example media device detector 401, theexample media transmission detector 403, the example association storer405, the example probability determiner 407, and the example exposuresite contact indicator 409 more generally, the example unknown mediadevice locator 101 and/or, more generally, the example unknown mediadevice locator 101 could be implemented by one or more analog or digitalcircuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s), applicationspecific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s)(PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)). Whenreading any of the apparatus or system claims of this patent to cover apurely software and/or firmware implementation, at least one of theexample, media device detector 401, the example media transmissiondetector 403, the example association storer 405, the exampleprobability determiner 407, and the example exposure site contactindicator 409 is/are hereby expressly defined to include a tangiblecomputer readable storage device or storage disk such as a memory, adigital versatile disk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc.storing the software and/or firmware. Further still, the example unknownmedia device locator 101 of FIG. 1 may include one or more elements,processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, thoseillustrated in FIG. 4, and/or may include more than one of any or all ofthe illustrated elements, processes and devices.

Flowcharts representative of example machine readable instructions forimplementing the unknown media device locator 101 of FIG. 1 and/or FIG.4 are shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. In this example, the machine readableinstructions comprise a program for execution by a processor such as theprocessor 712 shown in the example processor platform 700 discussedbelow in connection with FIG. 7. The program may be embodied in softwarestored on a tangible computer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM,a floppy disk, a hard drive, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-raydisk, or a memory associated with the processor 712, but the entireprogram and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by a deviceother than the processor 712 and/or embodied in firmware or dedicatedhardware. Further, although the example program is described withreference to the flowcharts illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, many othermethods of implementing the example unknown media device locator 101 mayalternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of the blocksmay be changed, and/or some of the blocks described may be changed,eliminated, or combined.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIGS. 5 and 6 may beimplemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machinereadable instructions) stored on a tangible computer readable storagemedium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory(ROM), a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a cache, arandom-access memory (RAM) and/or any other storage device or storagedisk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extendedtime periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarilybuffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, theterm tangible computer readable storage medium is expressly defined toinclude any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage diskand to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. Asused herein, “tangible computer readable storage medium” and “tangiblemachine readable storage medium” are used interchangeably. Additionallyor alternatively, the example processes of FIGS. 5 and 6 may beimplemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machinereadable instructions) stored on a non-transitory computer and/ormachine readable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, aread-only memory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, arandom-access memory and/or any other storage device or storage disk inwhich information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended timeperiods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering,and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the termnon-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined to includeany type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and toexclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. As usedherein, when the phrase “at least” is used as the transition term in apreamble of a claim, it is open-ended in the same manner as the term“comprising” is open ended.

The program of FIG. 5 begins at block 501. Referring to FIG. 5, themedia device detector 401 (FIG. 4) detects an unknown media device thatis present in an exposure site (block 501). In one example, the mediadevice detector 401 detects the unknown media device by determining ifthe unknown media device is identified in monitoring data that iscollected by an audience measurement device that is positioned at thelocation.

The example media transmission detector 403 (FIG. 4) detects a mediatransmission associated with a device address (block 503). In oneexample, the media transmission detector 403 detects the mediatransmission associated with the device address by determining if themedia transmission is detected by a network communications monitor,e.g., 180 in FIG. 1 (for example a DMX).

The example storer 405 (FIG. 4) stores an association of the deviceaddress with the unknown media device and the location (block 505). Inone example the storer 405 stores the association of the device addresswith the unknown media device and location in a table (e.g., the exampletable 200 of FIG. 2). The example storer 405 tracks each detectedinstance of this association such that a count of the detected instancesmay be stored. In one example, the association of the device addresswith the unknown media device and location may be used to build aprobability table. In one example, the probability table correlatesrespective media access control (MAC) addresses with a plurality ofsites.

The example probability determiner 407 (FIG. 4) determines a probabilitythat the unknown media device is located at the location (block 507).The example probability determiner 407 determines a probability that theunknown media device is located at the location by using data thatassociates MAC addresses with sites that are “on.” In one example,probability determiner 407 determines probability by accessingprobability data, e.g., from a probability table populated with the datathat associates MAC addresses with sites that are on. The probabilitytable correlates respective media access control (MAC) addresses with aplurality of sites.

The example, exposure site contact indicator 409 (FIG. 4) prompts thecontacting of an exposure site of the media device when a condition thatis based on the determined probability is satisfied (block 509). Seedescription of exposure site contact indicator 409 made in connectionwith FIG. 4. In one example, exposure site contact indicator 409provides an indication that an exposure site should be contacted when acondition based on the determined probability is satisfied. In oneexample, the condition is a probability threshold. In another example,the condition is an elapse of a period of time after a probabilitythreshold has been reached.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for determining the probability that adevice associated with a MAC address is transmitting from a site.Referring to FIG. 6, the example media transmission detector 403 (FIG.4) detects information from a plurality of sites related totransmissions associated with MAC addresses (block 601). In one example,the media transmission detector 403 detects the MAC addresses that aretransmitting from sites that are “on.”

The example, association storer 405 (FIG. 4) correlates respective MACaddresses with the plurality of sites (block 603). In one example, theassociation storer 405 correlates respective MAC addresses that aretransmitting with the plurality of sites by associating the MAC addresswith the sites. In one example, this association is used to build aprobability table.

The example association storer 405 (FIG. 4) stores counts that indicatea detection of MAC addresses transmitting at “on” sites (block 605). Inone example, the counts are stored as a probability table (e.g., 200 inFIG. 2).

The association storer 405 (FIG. 4) builds a probability table bymaintaining a count of the association of MAC addresses withtransmissions from exposure sites that are on (block 607).

The example probability determiner 407 (FIG. 4) determines a probabilitythat the unknown media device is located at a site based on the strengthof a computed probability. In one example, the strength of the computedprobability is based on the total number of detected MAC addresstransmissions from the plurality of sites (block 609).

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 1000 capableof executing the instructions of FIGS. 5 and 6 to implement theapparatus of FIG. 1. The processor platform 700 can be, for example, aserver, a personal computer, a mobile device (e.g., a cell phone, asmart phone, a tablet such as an iPad™), a personal digital assistant(PDA), an Internet appliance, a DVD player, a CD player, a digital videorecorder, a Blu-ray player, a gaming console, a personal video recorder,a set top box, or any other type of computing device.

The processor platform 700 of the illustrated example includes aprocessor 712. The processor 712 of the illustrated example is hardware.For example, the processor 712 can be implemented by one or moreintegrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors or controllers fromany desired family or manufacturer.

The processor 712 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 713(e.g., a cache). The processor 712 of the illustrated example is incommunication with a main memory including a volatile memory 714 and anon-volatile memory 716 via a bus 718. The volatile memory 714 may beimplemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), DynamicRandom Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM)and/or any other type of random access memory device. The non-volatilememory 716 may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desiredtype of memory device. Access to the main memory 714, 716 is controlledby a memory controller.

The processor platform 700 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 720. The interface circuit 720 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In one example, unknown media device locator 101 of FIG. 1 can beincluded as a part of processor 712 as shown in FIG. 7. The example,unknown media device locator 101 includes an example media devicedetector 401, an example media transmission detector 403, an exampleassociation storer 405, an example probability determiner 407 and anexample exposure site contact indicator 409.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 722 are connectedto the interface circuit 720. The input device(s) 722 permit(s) a userto enter data and commands into the processor 712. The input device(s)can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, acamera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, atrack-pad, a trackball, isopoint and/or a voice recognition system.

One or more output devices 724 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 720 of the illustrated example. The output devices 724 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emittingdiode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactileoutput device, a printer and/or speakers). The interface circuit 720 ofthe illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics drivercard, a graphics driver chip or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 720 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data withexternal machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network726 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), atelephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.).

The processor platform 700 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 728 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 728 include floppy disk drives,hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, RAIDsystems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives.

The coded instructions 732 of FIGS. 5 and 6 may be stored in the massstorage device 728, in the volatile memory 714, in the non-volatilememory 716, and/or on a removable tangible computer readable storagemedium such as a CD or DVD.

From the foregoing, it will appreciate that the above disclosed methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture enable the calibration of panelistdevices remotely. In one example, this is accomplished by determining aprobability that an unknown media device is located at a particularplace among the sites. Identifying the location of the unknown mediadevice enables remote hardware calibration in a media exposure location.

Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacturehave been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is notlimited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope ofthe claims of this patent.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for determining a location of mediadevices, the apparatus comprising: a media device detector to detect anunknown media device identified in monitoring data collected by anaudience measurement device at a first location of a first mediapresentation device determined to have an “on” status; a mediatransmission detector to detect a media transmission associated with adevice address; an association storer to: store an association of thedevice address with the unknown media device and the first location ofthe first media presentation device in a probability data structure, theassociation indicative of when the unknown media device transmitsnetwork communications during a period of time when the first mediapresentation device is determined to have the “on” status, theprobability data structure including counts of a number of associationsfor the device address with the first location of the first mediapresentation device and respective locations of a plurality of mediapresentation devices; increase the counts when subsequent associationsfor the unknown media device with the first media presentation device orthe plurality of media presentation devices that are determined to havethe “on” status and the first location of the first media presentationdevice or the respective locations of the plurality of mediapresentation devices are stored; and a probability determiner todetermine a probability that the unknown media device is located at thefirst location of the first media presentation device based on a totalcount of associations of the device address with the unknown mediadevice and the location of the first media presentation device.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, further including: a contact prompter to prompt acontacting of an exposure site of the unknown media device when acondition that is based on the determined probability is satisfied. 3.The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the condition is a probabilitythreshold.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the condition is anelapse of a predetermined period of time after a probability thresholdhas been reached.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the probabilitydata structure correlates respective media access control (MAC)addresses with a plurality of sites.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the media transmission detector monitors media transmissions inan on-going manner.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a networkcommunications monitor identifies a media device type of the unknownmedia device.
 8. A method for determining a location of unknown mediadevices, the method comprising: detecting, by executing an instructionvia a processor, an unknown media device identified in monitoring datacollected by an audience measurement device at a first location of afirst media presentation device determined to have an “on” status;detecting, by executing an instruction via the processor, a mediatransmission associated with a device address; storing, by executing aninstruction via the processor, an association of the device address withthe unknown media device and the first location of the first mediapresentation device in a probability data structure, the associationindicative of when the unknown media device transmits networkcommunications during a period of time when the first media presentationdevice is determined to have the “on” status, the probability datastructure including counts of a number of associations for the deviceaddress with the first location of the first media presentation deviceand respective locations of a plurality of media presentation devices;increasing, by executing an instruction with the processor, the countswhen subsequent associations for the unknown media device with the firstmedia presentation device or the plurality of media presentation devicesthat are determined to have the “on” status and the first location ofthe first media presentation device or the respective locations of theplurality of media presentation devices are stored; and determining, byexecuting an instruction via the processor, a probability that theunknown media device is located at the first location of the first mediapresentation device based on a total count of associations of the deviceaddress with the unknown media device and the location of the firstmedia presentation device.
 9. The method of claim 8, further including:prompting an exposure site of the unknown media device to be contactedwhen a condition that is based on the determined probability issatisfied.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the condition is aprobability threshold.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the conditionis an elapse of a predetermined period of time after a probabilitythreshold has been reached.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein thedetermining comprises generating the probability data structure thatcorrelates respective media access control (MAC) addresses with aplurality of sites.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the determiningincludes continuous monitoring.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein anetwork communications monitor identifies a media device type of theunknown media device.
 15. A non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed,cause a machine to at least: detect an unknown media device identifiedin monitoring data collected by an audience measurement device at alocation of a first media presentation device determined to have an “on”status; detect a media transmission associated with a device address;store an association of the device address with the unknown media deviceand the location of the first media presentation device in a probabilitydata structure, the association indicative of when the unknown mediadevice transmits network communications during a period of time when thefirst media presentation device is determined to have the “on” status,the probability data structure including counts of a number ofassociations for the device address with the location of the first mediapresentation device and respective locations of a plurality of mediapresentation devices; increase the counts when subsequent associationsfor the unknown media device with the first media presentation device orthe plurality of media presentation devices that are determined to havethe “on” status and the location of the first media presentation deviceor the respective locations of the plurality of media presentationdevices are stored; and determine a probability that the unknown mediadevice is located at the location of the first media presentation devicebased on a total count of associations of the device address with theunknown media device and the location of the first media presentationdevice.
 16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim15, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed furthercause the machine to: prompt an exposure site of the unknown mediadevice to be contacted when a condition that is based on the determinedprobability is satisfied.
 17. The non-transitory machine: readablestorage medium of claim 16, wherein the condition is a probabilitythreshold.
 18. The non-transitory machine: readable storage medium ofclaim 16, wherein the condition is an elapse of a predetermined periodof time after a probability threshold has been reached.
 19. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein thecomputer readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine tostore comprises the association by at least generating the probabilitydata structure that correlates respective media access control (MAC)addresses with a plurality of sites.
 20. The non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the determiningincludes continuous monitoring.